Part 19: Advances in Cleaner Production ; International audience ; The human addiction to fossil fuel and global warming leads to the search for alternative energy sources. The Brazilian government intends to increase its dependence on renewable energy sources, including hydropower, biomass, and wind. Many political and economic efforts have been directed to wind-energy, however, there is a lack of case-specific information regarding its performance for CO2 emissions and dependence on fossil fuels. The aim of this work is to assess the global warming potential (GWP) and the fossil energy embodied in an important wind-energy complex located at Piauí State, Brazil. Results show that evaluated wind-complex demands lower amount of fossil energy (0.0404 MJ) and has lower GWP (4.13 gCO2-eq.) per kWh of electricity generated when compared to landmark studies. Wind-electricity showed better performance than hydroelectricity (0.1516 MJ/kWh and 11.84 gCO2-eq./kWh), which supports wind-electricity as an important alternative towards an economy decarbonization.
Part 9: Quality in Production Management ; International audience ; Brazil ranks fourth worldwide position on milk production, and Minas Gerais State corresponds to 27% of national production. Eighty percent of the Brazilian milk producers are extensive-familiar, characterized by the absence of technicization and inefficient management that leads to low productivity and quality. Aiming to improve milk productivity and quality, the governmental program "Minas Leite" was launched. This work aims a regional sustainability multicriteria assessment of milk production in Minas Gerais. Social, economic, and environmental indexes are calculated before and after implementing "Minas Leite". Results show that "Minas Leite" should be promoted because it leads to higher sustainability than current production (2.3 times more liters of milk per year, 8.9 times more annual net income, 52% more available jobs, and an increase of 13% on salaries paid). However, efforts are needed to reach a regional strong sustainability under an ecocentric perspective, because "Minas Leite" showed worst performance for environmental indicators.
O desenvolvimento sustentável é, hoje em dia, um dos principais desafios a ser enfrentado por todos os países do globo. Busca-se um desenvolvimento com crescimento econômico sem degradar o capital natural e mantendo o bem estar da humanidade. Para diagnosticar o desenvolvimento de países, existem diversas ferramentas com abordagens diferentes, mas todas fornecem como resultado final, índices de desempenho. Atualmente, os termos índice e indicador estão sendo utilizados incorretamente pela grande maioria dos trabalhos publicados, levando a discussão incoerente sobre seu verdadeiro significado. Nesse sentido, este trabalho discute e tenta esclarecer o significado das palavras associadas à sustentabilidade, ilustrando através de três índices muito utilizados para diagnosticar o desenvolvimento de países: Índice de sustentabilidade ambiental; Pegada ecológica; Índices de desempenho emergético.
Purpose The study of sustainability within universities is recognized as essential for debates and research; in the long term, the "sustainable university" concepts can contribute to sustainability from a larger perspective. This study aims to propose a conceptual model for evaluating the students' sustainability considering their interactions with the university and the environment. The proposed model is titled Sunshine model. It is applied to students of the La Salle University, Peru.
Design/methodology/approach The model combines academic performance, happiness and the ecological footprint to quantify university students' sustainability. A structured questionnaire survey was elaborated and applied to get the raw data that feeds the three methods. The students' average grades evaluate academic performance. Happiness is quantified by the happiness index method, and the ecological footprint is measured by the demand for food, paper, electricity, transport and built-up areas. Results are evaluated under both approaches, overall group performance and clusters.
Findings The proposed model avoids misleading interpretations of a single indicator or discussions on sustainability that lack a conceptual model, bringing robustness in assessing students' sustainability in universities. To have a low ecological footprint, the student needs to need up to 1 planet for their lifestyle, be considered happy with at least 0.8 (of 1) for happiness index, and have good academic performance with at least a grade of 7 (of 10) in their course. Regarding the case study, La Salle students show a high academic grade degree of 7, a high level for happiness index of 0.8 and low performance for ecological footprint by demanding 1.8 Earth planets, resulting in an "environmentally distracted" overall classification for students with 2019 data. From a cluster approach, 81% of evaluated students (n = 603) have low performance for ecological footprint, whereas 31% have low performance for indicators of recreational activities of happiness. Changing lifestyles and making more recreational activities available play crucial roles in achieving higher sustainability for the La Salle students.
Research limitations/implications The happiness assessment questionnaire can be subject to criticism, as it was created as a specific method for this type of audience based on existing questionnaires in the literature. Although it can be seen as an important approach for diagnoses, the proposed model does not consider the cause–effect aspect. The decision-maker must consider the sociocultural aspects before implementing plan actions.
Practical implications University managers can better understand why university students have high or low sustainability performance and provide more effective actions toward higher levels of students' sustainability.
Originality/value The proposed model, Sunshine model, overcomes the single-criteria existing tools that access the sustainability of universities. Rather than focusing on university infrastructure, the proposed model focuses on the students and their relationship with the university.
Purpose Students play an unequivocal role in sustainable universities as they are theorized to embody the mission of a sustainable university through a sustainable lifestyle and spread sustainability practices during their professional careers. Despite this, it is not well known how or why students come to embody a sustainable lifestyle. This study aims to better understand the relationship between happiness, academic achievement and sustainability behaviors among the student population in a Mexican higher education institution.
Design/methodology/approach In a questionnaire study, engineering and psychology university students at a large public university in northwestern Mexico answered questions regarding their environmental sustainability behaviors, happiness and academic performance. A stratified random sampling technique was used to obtain the sample population that best represents the entire population. After chi-square tests, it was confirmed that the three variables were independent of one another. Therefore, a series of correspondence analyses were conducted to examine clusters or patterns that could indicate relationships among the three variables.
Findings The main finding from this work was that the happiest and most academically astute participants were only slightly environmentally sustainable or not sustainable at all. The lack of environmental sustainability in students from one of the most top-rank sustainable universities in Mexico does not align with previous sustainability reports. External factors to the university, such as cultural values and extreme weather conditions, may have influenced students' sustainability behaviors.
Research limitations/implications As with any other questionnaire study, the provided data is subject to interpretation, judgment and bias. In addition, the environmental and happiness index used in this study are not free of criticizing, and some author had disputed its efficacy. Finally, this study's findings did not determine any causality or directionality between any of the latent variables. However, causality and directionally between environmental sustainability-happiness and happiness-academic performance have to be found in both directions.
Practical implications Despite the unsustainability of students in this study, this study has several contributions. First, it provides an evaluation of a sustainable university from the perspectives and behaviors of students. The views of students as they relate to the complexities and visions of a sustainable university have remained relatively underexamined. Second, these analyses point to specific sustainability-oriented challenges and inadvertent barriers (e.g. extreme weather patterns) toward the embodiment of a sustainable lifestyle. These challenges and barriers suggest that sustainable universities need to address the dynamic changes inherent in sustainable development. Finally, this study indicates that the link between happiness, academic performance and sustainability may be more complicated and driven by cultural and structural barriers. The issue of barriers, as they relate to sustainability behaviors, is highly relevant and presents important opportunities and questions for future research.
Originality/value This study provides an evaluation of a sustainable university from the perspectives and behaviors of students. Students' views as they relate to the complexities and visions of a sustainable university have remained relatively underexamined. Second, these analyses point to specific sustainability-oriented challenges and barriers as they relate to the embodiment of a sustainable lifestyle. These challenges and barriers suggest that sustainable universities need to address the dynamic changes inherent in sustainable development. Finally, this study indicates that the link between happiness, academic performance and sustainability may be more complicated and driven by cultural and structural barriers.
